CVE-2018-4050
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn exploitable local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the privileged helper tool of GOG Galaxy's Games, version 1.2.47 for macOS. An attacker can globally adjust folder permissions leading to execution of arbitrary code with elevated privileges.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceA local privilege escalation vulnerability exists in GOG Galaxy's privileged helper tool for macOS version 1.2.47. The flaw allows an attacker to globally adjust folder permissions, enabling arbitrary code execution with elevated (root) privileges through the helper tool's elevated context.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 1.2.47CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate the GOG Galaxy applicationOpen Finder, go to /Applications, and look for 'GOG Galaxy.app' or search for it using Spotlight (Cmd+F and search 'GOG Galaxy')Affected if The application is present on the system
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Determine the installed version of GOG GalaxyRight-click on GOG Galaxy.app, select 'Get Info' (or press Cmd+I), and check the 'Version' field under the General information sectionAffected if The version displayed is exactly 1.2.47
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Identify the privileged helper toolOpen Terminal and check for the helper tool by looking in /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/ for a file named 'com.gog.galaxy.helper' or similar GOG-related helper entriesAffected if A GOG Galaxy privileged helper tool exists in the privileged helper tools directory
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Verify if the helper is registered and runningCheck the helper's status by running 'launchctl list | grep -i gog' in Terminal to see if the service is loaded, or check /Library/LaunchDaemons/ for a GOG-related plist fileAffected if The helper tool is registered as a launch daemon and is currently running or enabled to start
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Check folder permission configurations accessible to the helperReview any scripts, configurations, or logs in the GOG Galaxy application support directory (~/Library/Application Support/GOG Galaxy/ or /Library/Application Support/GOG Galaxy/) that demonstrate the helper can modify folder permissionsAffected if The helper tool has configuration files that allow modification of folder permissions
A user is affected if GOG Galaxy version 1.2.47 is installed with its privileged helper tool active on the system.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpdate to a patched version of GOG Galaxy's Games. If unavailable, remove or disable the privileged helper tool to prevent exploitation.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-4050 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-4050 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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